Meme, Myself, and I

Why do we decide to share something? How does an image with a few words go viral? In Quartz, Christopher Mims looks at the science of memes. We know some things. Memes tend to do well if they travel in packs and grow gradually. But we don’t know others. For example, “no one has yet to rigorously demonstrate, in advance, why any particular type of content goes viral. This sort of prognostication remains an art rather than a science.”

+ Here’s a simple way to share something that will make you feel more evolved, increase your popularity among friends and followers, and make me have a pretty good weekend. Take a couple seconds and spread the word about NextDraft on Facebook or on Twitter.

Play It Again, Damn

“They give you a piece that’s really hard, and if you do really well on that one, you get to play another piece, and then maybe you do really well on that one, you get to play another piece. And she was on the sixth excerpt, and then she messed up and missed a note. And then it’s like, thank you very much.” Think you face a tough job market? Try playing violin for a living. Even in smaller markets, there are often hundreds of talented people competing for a single position that will barely pay enough to cover a student loan. From PBS/Newshour: Performing Artists Compete, Move, Adapt in Tough Economy.

Weekend Reads

This week, the fine folks over at Longreads share an excellent 1995 piece by Andrew Corsello (a great writer and a good guy with whom I’ve been lucky enough to share the occasional order of sesame noodles). I know Andrew. But I didn’t know about this: ‘My Body Stopped Speaking to Me:’ The First-Person Account of a Near-Death Experience.

+ “Damien Echols did something he’d never done before: He turned away and ran to the frozen-food section, amid the Ben & Jerry’s and the microwave dinners. And he hid.” Boston Magazine’s Alyssa Giacobbe updates us on the life of one of the West Memphis Three. Damien Echols spent nearly two decades on death row before a couple documentaries and some new evidence helped set him free. “As he attempts to rebuild his life on the North Shore, will a city best known for its witch hunts ever let him?”

The Race Away from Paula Deen

JC Penney and Sears just dropped Paula Deen. That shouldn’t come as much of a shock. They are the eighth and ninth companies to drop her this week. The Daily Beast’s Daniel Gross explains the demise: “In business, it’s OK to be a sexist, a felon, or an adulterer. But a racist? Uh-uh.” I guess all we need now is a cheating, sexist ex-con to take Deen’s place. Experience drowning everything in butter a plus.

Snap, Tackle, And Popped

While former New England tight end Aaron Hernandez’ murder rap is dominating the headlines, it can be viewed as part of a larger trend. Twenty-seven NFL players have been arrested … since the Super Bowl. And many of those arrests are for very serious crimes.

A Cup of Joke?

“On a gram-per-gram basis, the coffee beans found in civet shit are worth roughly twice that of silver.” If you think the price people pay for designer coffee drinks are scary, wait until you read about the world’s most coveted coffee: From the bowels of a beast.

Partly Frying

Those folks waiting for a new record temperature in Death Valley this weekend might be disappointed. Forecasters now predict that it will only get to about 129 degrees. But it’s a dry heat.

The Bottom of the News

“I truly believe there’s one thing everyone has inside them that they can do better than anybody else. Some people can swim, others are good at singing, others are track stars … I thumb wrestle. That’s my thing.”